Quality habitat equals quality wildlife, specialist says

By LYNN MONTGOMERY | East Texas Edition

March 11, 2004 -- "There are three pieces of managing wildlife ...," began Becky McPeake, Extension wildlife specialist at the University of Arkansas, "wildlife population, habitat, and people."

McPeake, one of the speakers during the recent Four States Ag Expo in Texarkana, quoted the "Father of Wildlife Management" Aldo Leopold. "When some remote ancestors of ours invented the shovel, he became a giver: he could plant a tree. And when the axe was invented, he became a taker: he could chop it down. Whoever owns land has thus assumed, whether he knows it or not, the divine functions of creating and destroying plants."

In three steps, the wildlife specialist outlined managing techniques: goals and objectives; habitat assessment; and developing quality habitat for quality wildlife.

McPeake quickly outlined goals and objectives for landowners: Maintain timber stand with potential for top dollar returns at stand maturity; have bigger bucks with bigger racks; have more turkeys and bigger gobblers; be able to see more wildlife on the property; and gain income from hunting leases.

But to reach these goals, the habitat must be there. McPeake outlined how the property can be assessed. "Ask yourself the following questions," she said. "How diverse is your habitat? How is your landscape designed? Do you have necessary landscape features? What habitat management practices are best for your circumstance? ... And, "most importantly, don't destroy good habitat," she stressed.

With an easy equation, McPeake pointed out that quality habitat equals quality wildlife. And to breakdown the equation, McPeake cited three-D‚s: diversity, design and diligence.

A diverse wildlife habitat needs food, water, shelter ,and space, while making sure of the presence or absence, quality and quantity, utilization, digestibility and seasonal availability of plant species is there, McPeake added.

The specialist explained, using the white-tail deer as an example, the diversity of wildlife habitat.

"White-tail deer eat a mix of perennial forbs and grasses, shrubs, and young woodlands, which are trees younger than 70-years-old. Deer eat a little bit of everything, and acorns and nuts are their favorite foods."

Deer eat between four to six pounds of fresh food per 100 pounds of body weight. The average-size deer may consume 2,000 pounds of food per year. The optimum protein content for growth and development of antlers or fawns during the spring and summer is 16 percent.

She added, "Research indicates availability of soil phosphorus is directly related to body size of deer, and ability of buck fawns to produce large antlers later in life."

Quality deer habitat management, according to the specialist, varies with the seasons.

In the spring, large amounts of nutritious forage is needed after surviving the winter.

In the late summer, soft fruits such as huckleberry and blackberry, and corn, soybeans and sorghum is needed. It is during the summer months of July, August, and September that deer experience a stress period. The reason for this is plants become difficult to digest, does are continuing to produce milk before fawns are weaned, they start to grow a winter coat, and are storing fat for the winter. They are also preparing for the upcoming breeding season. Bucks are reserving nutrients for future antler development.

In the fall, acorns are the main feast. But come winter, another stress period occurs.

"Deer rely on mushrooms, acorns, honeysuckle, buds from trees and shrubs, green briar, dewberry, winter forbs, and cool season grasses. Agricultural plantings and food plots such as winter wheat, oats and rye are very important at this time."

This winter stress period is in the months prior to "spring greening" and means food is scarce. Deer have to adapt to this scarcity as will call on fat reserves. Their metabolic system will slow with the declination of food consumption up to 40 percent, McPeake added.

McPeake briefly touched on the characteristics of wild turkey, saying, "They nest on the ground; clutch size is 10 to 12 eggs and hatch in late May or early June; and nesting success is effected by adverse weather, predation and flooding."

Turkeys feed primarily on insects, berries and seeds, acorns and during the winter, they also rely on mast crops and agricultural plantings.

"A word about water ... white-tail deer need four water sources per square mile; wild turkey ... 1,500 to 3,000 acres; swamp rabbit ... 1 to 15 acres; and a bobwhite quail ... dew."

As far as acreage needed for wildlife management, McPeake said the average home range of a white-tail deer is 1,250 acres. During the fawning season, this range will drop to about 300 acres, but during the breeding season will jump to 1,350 acres.

"Landowners with less than 1,000 acres are limited in their ability of manage free-ranging deer populations," McPeake added.

The wildlife specialist concluded her presentation by stating, "Measure your success. Keep records as you experiment with various habitat practices, and use exclosures. Write your goals and objectives on paper. Inventory your resources. Predict changes and make plans. Schedule tasks to achieve your goals."